http://blog.evergreensys.com/2007/08/13/cmdb-itil-and-itam-could-it-be-theyre-all-related/ News and notes about ITIL®, CMDB and "real world" IT solutions. ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark and a Registered Community Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce and is Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trade Mark Office. Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:05:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 http://blog.evergreensys.com/2007/08/13/cmdb-itil-and-itam-could-it-be-theyre-all-related/#comment-4770 Chris Maskiell Sat, 02 Feb 2008 07:10:16 +0000 http://blog.evergreensys.com/2007/08/13/cmdb-itil-and-itam-could-it-be-theyre-all-related/#comment-4770 Where should ITAM report to in a very large global IT organization, as per industry best practices? I know that finance was the place many times in the past, but now that we are moving to a more meshed ITAM/Configuration Mgmt structure wouldn't this change? Should ITAM, Config Mgmt, Incident Mgmt, Change Mgmt, etc. report into a centralized ITSM structure? or on a function by function basis? Is there any consensus in the indusrty? Thank you. Where should ITAM report to in a very large global IT organization, as per industry best practices? I know that finance was the place many times in the past, but now that we are moving to a more meshed ITAM/Configuration Mgmt structure wouldn’t this change? Should ITAM, Config Mgmt, Incident Mgmt, Change Mgmt, etc. report into a centralized ITSM structure? or on a function by function basis? Is there any consensus in the indusrty? Thank you.

]]> http://blog.evergreensys.com/2007/08/13/cmdb-itil-and-itam-could-it-be-theyre-all-related/#comment-1102 Jim Reid Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:05:52 +0000 http://blog.evergreensys.com/2007/08/13/cmdb-itil-and-itam-could-it-be-theyre-all-related/#comment-1102 In part, I think this a problem of system design. CMDB and ITAM are both related functions. In the real world they interface so why not implement a comprehensive tracking and management system that adequately models your work processes and infrastructure? In part, I think this a problem of system design. CMDB and ITAM are both related functions. In the real world they interface so why not implement a comprehensive tracking and management system that adequately models your work processes and infrastructure?

]]> http://blog.evergreensys.com/2007/08/13/cmdb-itil-and-itam-could-it-be-theyre-all-related/#comment-84 Steve Janssens Fri, 28 Sep 2007 13:00:03 +0000 http://blog.evergreensys.com/2007/08/13/cmdb-itil-and-itam-could-it-be-theyre-all-related/#comment-84 Agreed. Just as the most critical part of ITIL is the interfaces between the processes so the so is the interface between ITAM or Asset Management in general with Configuration Management. The ITAM/CM link is very much a business/IT link and is frought with same FUD as the link between AppDev and operations although, in my experience, it is much easier to sort out the former than the latter. Asset management is addressed rather obliquely in the Software Asset Management book of V2. I think this is because Asset Management is largely a financial function that hasn't changed much since kings wanted to know how much treasure they had. However in V3 it is explicitly included and tied to Configuration Management as "Service Asset and Configuration Management". IT Asset Management is a dependency and an absolute prerequisite of Configuration Management. Your CMDB will only be as good as your AMDB. I have learned that the first step to assessing configuration management is to understand the state of their asset management data with regard to integrity, accuracy and avialability. Alas, what I find more often than not is that IT Asset Management has less rigor around it than Asset Management in general. Equally important is that the AMDB must be seperate although accessible from the CMDB. More often than not I find that there is some mixture of the two and they are about as compatible as Incident and Problem management.....different objectives and purposes. Very much like siamese twins that share some organs but have different minds, and equally difficult to seperate. So start with clear definition of the two management areas, asset and config. Establish a policy for each with thier objectives, scopes, and deliverables. Being able to juxtapose them much like the plug and outlet will take you a long ways in turning the heel dragging resistance into the 'eureka' light bulb needed to get you on the road to effective Configuration Management. Agreed.
Just as the most critical part of ITIL is the interfaces between the processes so the so is the interface between ITAM or Asset Management in general with Configuration Management. The ITAM/CM link is very much a business/IT link and is frought with same FUD as the link between AppDev and operations although, in my experience, it is much easier to sort out the former than the latter.
Asset management is addressed rather obliquely in the Software Asset Management book of V2. I think this is because Asset Management is largely a financial function that hasn’t changed much since kings wanted to know how much treasure they had. However in V3 it is explicitly included and tied to Configuration Management as “Service Asset and Configuration Management”. IT Asset Management is a dependency and an absolute prerequisite of Configuration Management.
Your CMDB will only be as good as your AMDB. I have learned that the first step to assessing configuration management is to understand the state of their asset management data with regard to integrity, accuracy and avialability. Alas, what I find more often than not is that IT Asset Management has less rigor around it than Asset Management in general.
Equally important is that the AMDB must be seperate although accessible from the CMDB. More often than not I find that there is some mixture of the two and they are about as compatible as Incident and Problem management…..different objectives and purposes. Very much like siamese twins that share some organs but have different minds, and equally difficult to seperate.
So start with clear definition of the two management areas, asset and config. Establish a policy for each with thier objectives, scopes, and deliverables. Being able to juxtapose them much like the plug and outlet will take you a long ways in turning the heel dragging resistance into the ‘eureka’ light bulb needed to get you on the road to effective Configuration Management.

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